Running a small business or startup isn’t easy and there will be times when you are confronted with a vocal and disgruntled customer or receive criticism about your offerings. It can be a disheartening experience, but don’t let those negative opinions consume you.
Murray Hurps is an entrepreneur who launched his first startup at the tender age of 16. Now in his 30s, he has spent many years running different companies and supporting the startup community. He is currently the CEO of Fishburners, Australia’s largest startup hub.
In an AMA session run by Blackbird VC, Hurps was asked what was the best advice he received throughout his career. Here’s his response:
“The more people you reach, the more chance you have of dealing with idiots, and those are the only one’s you’ll remember. I used to lose sleep after reading reviews, and would ignore a thousand positive reviews to fixate on a few unhappy people.
“Just expect this to happen, and remember the ratio of happy customers rather than the hurtful few.”
Receiving criticism can be helpful for personal development but it all depends on who is dishing it out. You should take feedback from genuine critics on-board and ignore the comments made by ‘haters’. Here’s more on this topic.
You can read Hurps’ full AMA session over at The Sunrise.
Comments
2 responses to “Don’t Let Negative Opinions Drag You And Your Business Down”
Or my personal favourite, The Deal Too Good To Be True. Clients who after signing a contract with you deciding to make up their own rules in order to delay payment to you as long as possible, or just plain do not pay for your services. Delayed communications, dealing with paper cheques that bounce instead of electronic payments, and then demanding you do more work because it’s in your contract even though you have never been payed for previous jobs. That, and a bleak vision of the future of running an own business in my area of expertise, is what ruined it for me.
I guess it’s also about staying positive and trying to remember the good people who come back to you for more business. However business is business. In the end, it’s all about money and someone undercutting your prices and then you trying to keep your current people happy so they won’t move to Joe Cheap next door. Keep those relations happy and network with them a lot. Try and find new people of course, it never hurts to expand. Just watch out for idiots, like the article says. Easier said than done though 😉
TL;DR: opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one!